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Message: [QUOTE="IthacaMatt, post: 5217732, member: 405"] I feel like pretty much everyone played better this game than Clarion, except for 1 or 2 guys. Everyone has been pretty good. Lucas Taylor had nerves in game 1, but was much better tonight, especially in the 2nd half. Cuffe started poorly, made some mistakes, but was more assertive for a nice 10 minute stretch in the 2nd half. I thought that overall, despite the massive lead, we still played hard because guys are playing for their minutes, and there are more guys who can actually play on this year's team than we have had in a while. It didn't turn into garbage time and get sloppy until there were only about 4 1/2 minutes left. Petar's a useful guy. Davis had a much better game, but does need to be more physical near the rim in his minutes on the floor. He can provide some toughness. So happy to see Naheem play so many minutes, and generally look mobile, healthy and assertive on the offensive boards. Yes, he is foot slow, but when we play teams with monster big men we have an answer for a stretch or two in each half, if Eddie and others get in foul trouble. Freeman is like Darryl Strawberry - effortlessly talented. He just puts up numbers without you noticing. Early career Billy Owens did the same. He needs to try a lot harder on defensive rebouds, but he has all the tools. Elijah Moore will be our third guard by December. JJ was very solid, and got a couple shifts as PG, accompanied by Cuffe one time and Moore the other. Chris Bell - great shooter, working harder on defense, a handful of rebounds. Needs some more variety in his offensive game. But I suppose it's early in the season, so let him groove his shot before he starts working on the other stuff (which he did show some of in game 1). Eddie is a very solid guy. He's not an All American, but he's also not afraid of a moment, and he's got low post skills we haven't seen in at least a decade. He makes us a much better team. I don't think our athleticism is as bad as some people are saying. Our rebounding will get better; we have the guys to do it. On offense, we're seeing movement like it took us until February to put in place last year. I saw actual sets and plays. Pretty much zero isolation ball again this game. This is where having experienced players is clearly a benefit. I feel like we are going to pull an upset or two in the early season. Experienced teams often start the season more quickly. I'm really liking what I've seen so far! [/QUOTE]

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